Gamantala
A description of Gamantala, by Humid Gamantala is a small village, with a large square that held festivals every other night. Large, tropical flowers sprouted naturally beside all of the houses and vendors, and the dragonesses wore them in delicate crowns to the dances. These dances are help whenever there is anything to celebrate. Weddings, the sunrise, the pile of rare shells at your feet, and even a small rock have been known to inspire fesivals. (I particularly liked the rock one) It's hard to catch up on sleep with a festival every three days! The vendors come on Saturdays, when nobody has anything to do. They always sell all kinds of things, like dyes, scrolls, fish, and anything else you could think of. We of Gamantala don't get many visitors, so any dragons not a seawing or a rainwing are considered to be oddities. Most of the seawings here are tropical seawings, but some are of the 'regular' type. Gamantala has wide streets that go into the warm water, always partially submerged. Our huts have reeds and sticks underneath them so they float in case of a flood, and usually are open to the sky. They are decorated with carved bones in interesting patterns, each representing something that happened in the resident's life. Only specialized bonereaders (creative) can add to or fix a bone tapestry, and you have to train for many years to become a respected bonereader. Gamantala is never the same after a flood. New corals wash up, making patterns on the sand, and if you don't tether your house in time for a flood, it could float away with you in it! The layout is basically squares of houses around The Courtyard, which has a small collection of statuettes in the center and around the walls. They are usually carved in the shapes of dragons in the village, and they often get splotchy or covered in clams. The village is on a tropical island below the rainwing kingdom. Many tropical seawings and Rainwings love here, and many hybrids of the two tribes reside here as well. I myself and one of these hybrids, and find nobody discriminating in the village. We don't like tourists in Gamantala, and we keep our village small and compact. We allow the occasional outsider, but if you were born here you are expected to stay, or have a huge goodbye party and set off to find a great future in the great big wonderful world! Bleh, I say. who'd want to leave? significant locations the courtyard The courtyard is where all festivals arr held. It has impressive arches of coral and stone grown into each other, each topped with exquisite statues of important dragons. One of the most famous statues is of Humid, the famous scholar and architect, and Alegre, the best artist and sculptor. They are dancing together. On the floor of the courtyard, there are polished peices of coral in a pattern much like stained glass. The majority of the corals are blue and green with white accents. There is no good on the courtyard, and it is very open. Usually it is flooded when monsoons come. Bali street Named after a famous philosopher, the street is where many of the richest families live. Many great thinkers make it big in the village and settle here as a testimony to Bali. This street always has at least a foot of water on it, and the actual street itself is made of obsidian tile. These houses are on talk stilts, unlike the floating houses of the rest of the village. The whole village used to be in stilts, but a bad hurricane destroyed it all. the ruins A sad place, full of ghostly whispers. This theatre, once used in many great plays, collapsed in a terrible accident. These are incredibly old, older than anyone can say, and nobody knows what they originally looked like. They say ancient ghosts haunt this place, weaving among the stark white pillars that stand out like a ribcage on dead sands. History Gamantala was formed by tropical seawings. The most notable of the founders was named Gamantala, after which the city is named. She was the head designer for the ruins, which used to be a grand arena/theatre. Her and the rest of the founders made the city the freest and most hushed up village around. The only news of it was rumors of a large project in the South of Pyrhhia. The founders have their own statues of them holding an intricate model of the city carved from amber and pearl. Soon after its formation, Gamantala attracted Rainwings to its part of the sea. They were very touristy and often ruined the quality of the buildings and roads. by then, the citizens of the city out their foot down. No rainwing was to come near the city. Unfortunately, many Rainwings still came. They were disguised as southern seawings, and often married into rich families so they could stay. Once married, they were officially a part of the city and could not be kicked out. Other Rainwings just moved on. At first the Rainwings in the city couldn't get along with the strict seawings. They squabbled over stupid things, like where the fruit goes on the mango stand. life continued on as a burden for both tribes until the next generation hatched out. Many dragonets were mixed, rainwing and seawing hybrids. To prevent racial conflict in the chikderen, the seawings and Rainwings haf To make nice. They did so in public, but arguments still emanated from behind closed doors. The seawings and Rainwings have never really resolved their conflict, but learned to live with it. Very few dragons had any problems living with the other tribe. Life was uneventful, and many festivals were established. Like the island they were on, the culture developed uniquely without any interference. They developed their own set of bad luck and good luck events. (When you can't see the water, beware). Everything stayed this way for hundreds of years, other than the occasional hurricane. The village of "Tropicwings" didn't see any foreigners until a mudwing trader landed on the island 157 years ago. She was named silt, and traded for the village's unique spices made from flowers and insects. When she got back to the mainland, she told almost everyone of the paradise in the south. She made sure to warn them of their violent tendencies, as the villagers requested, to prevent too many dragons from coming. Only the boldest came, and when they did, fell over laughing with the softness of the villagers. The reason was clear: not one dragon knew how to fight. Thus, to uphold their scary reputation, they had to learn to be menacing. This was difficult, as it interrupted a lot of their festivals and the younger members of the tribe didn't like that. It took many decades to find the right techniques to train a dragonet. They had no idea how to start: at What age? What time of the day? How many shells do we use for the headdress? the last one was out in by a small dragonet who really wanted to go to that festival. The traders came again and again, watching the dragon e of the island grow tougher and tougher. eventually they were true to their word, and treated outsiders with a ferocious temper and rough deals. It's a good thing the island's wares were worth a lot, otherwise the traders would have never came there again. Today, the village has relaxed a bit and has a thriving trade economy. Things remained in peace. SIit actually got her own statue in the center of town. On her plaque it is written: for letting us dragons from Gamantala start their moneymaking ��. This was until Humid was hatched. He hated his home and thought of nothing but himself. He was washed away in a skywing terrorist attack during the war, and presumed dead. He was found in a huge city of dragons, and stopped a massacre from happening. During the process he met his future mate, and realized that he was being selfish and stupid. He flew back to Gamantala and wrote many scrolls. One of his friends, Bali, was a great philosopher and guided pyrhhia to its common beliefs today. Humid built him a street, and designed many other areas of the island. He influenced the younger culture into becoming more thoughtful. Humid died only 27 years ago, but his mark remains today. His relatives live today, and his youngest granddaughter is a leading sculptor. Category:Places